Cake, crumbs and cooking

If you asked my children how to eat cake the answer would be in two parts.
First you eat it raw, unbaked, straight from the bowl or possibly via a wooden spoon or spatula.
Secondly, you eat it warm from the oven, while the crumbs are fresh and all the easier to mush into clothes or chair covers.

Fortunately I can bake a cake. They generally look the part and taste the part, but I was entirely taught by Delia. My Mum, bless her, isn't the most accomplished cook. Her ability to sacrifice a joint of beef is legendary, but she can make a pretty decent fruit cake. I have a few vague memories of borrowing my Dad's red an white striped butcher's apron (he wasn't a butcher) to help stir in the fruit or roll out some pastry, but spending hours in the kitchen helping Mum cook just wasn't something we did. I think we prefered to stay well out of the way of the smoke!

My children however, have their own aprons, and regularly ask to wear them, occasionally for cooking too. They get stuck in up to their elbows, following the Masterchef example, and tasting as they go. Occasionally there is enough cake mix left to bake. They have a couple of children's cook books having found Delia a bit too complicated for them so far. The Big One briefly had ambitions to go on Junior Masterchef, that was until he realised it was an Australian programme and we would need to emigrate. I should stress at this point, he can make a slice of toast without assistance, but otherwise, he is still in the 'watch and help Mum' stage.

I am more than happy to encourage their interest in the kitchen and provide a role model and if they want to make me a birthday cake this year, I will even tie their aprons for them.

Who taught you to cook? And do your children join you in the kitchen?

This is a commissioned post.